Now on the first day of the week
Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb,
and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb.
Destiny’s Child had a song called, Say My Name. The lyrics went, “say my name, say my name, you actin kinda shady ain’t callin’ me baby, why the sudden change… if you ain’t runnin games… say my name, say my name“
There is something quite powerful about someone saying our name. Destiny’s Child sings about it. Shakespeare wrote plays about it. Dale Carnegie teaches techniques to help leaders learn people’s names because it is so important for success in business and really for life in general.
Your name is important.
Your name is used to get your attention and your name is used to show that you have someone’s attention…
Mary returns to the tomb… what does she see but the stone rolled away. Of course her first thought is that they had taken His body… those Pharisees… the council… Rome.
How could they?
Was the Friday torture not enough?
Would they destroy His dead lifeless body as well?
Could they really be that cruel?
Mary knew that yes… they could. She had lived in the perversions of man. She knew the depths of which they could steep. Now she turns and she runs to find Peter and John. I find it interesting that she ran to Peter and John. I believe she knew she could trust these men to do something… what she might not know… but they would do something.
The men entered the tomb to investigate. Jesus was gone. The tomb was indeed empty, they held His grave cloths in their hand… at a loss… a complete loss. What was going on? I can see the two men looking at one another shaking their heads… trying to work out in their minds what they should do next. However, not knowing what to do, not yet understanding the Scriptures, they just went home.
But not Mary.
Mary stayed at the tomb. She is after all a woman. Mary would need a good cry. It was time for a meltdown moment. She would need to fall to the ground and place her hands over her head and weep until her nose was red and running and her face soaked with salty tears, that poured so thick out of her eyes that they ran down her cheek and down her neck and soaked the veil that hung around her shoulders.
She had stayed and watched it all. She had been there when they laid Him in the tomb. She had came early to be near Him in the only way she knew how… and He was gone.
Yes, it was time for a meltdown.
Then she’s interrupted. She looks up through red-eyed, tear-blurred vision and doesn’t even question where these men came from… there is after all no telling how long she had been heaving these sobs. She speaks to these men, hoping they can tell her something… and then she turns:
When she had said this,
she turned around and saw Jesus standing there,
and did not know that it was Jesus.
John 20:14
He was there!
Right there!
Right there in front of her, yet she did know it was Him.
In that day it will be said to Jerusalem:
“Do not be afraid, O Zion;
Do not let your hands fall limp.
“The Lord your God is in your midst,
A victorious warrior.
He will exult over you with joy,
He will be quiet in His love,
He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy.
Zephaniah 3:16-17
Right there in her midst… How many of us have Him right here in our midst yet we do not see Him. But when He said her name… she recognized Him. There is indeed something quite powerful in someone saying our name.
I was the first on the scene of a vehicle accident about fifteen years ago. I actually witnessed it happen, should have been involved in it, but by God’s grace was spared. I was sitting in a side parking lot in one vehicle, talking to my mother and grandmother who were in another. As we sat and talked we saw the car pull out and we saw the diesel truck top the hill…
We knew it was coming but could do nothing.
The truck slamed into the car as he tried to stop and somehow instead of continuing in the direction straight toward our vehicles, he manages to turn the wheel and send his truck, that was now attached to this car, into a tree on the other side of the road.
I jumped out of my vehicle and ran to the car expecting to see death, I couldn’t tell if there was a pulse or not, I couldn’t tell if there was breathing or not… I saw the young woman’s purse and grabbed it trying to find out who she was. I saw that her name was Katie…
The moment I addressed her by her name her eyes shot open and she began moaning and crying…
She lived.
There is something powerful in knowing that someone knows our name. There is a reason people want to see their name in lights on a stage. There is a reason people want to see their name in the paper. There is a reason we do play bulletins with the cast and character list. There is a reason that hand out football programs. There is a reason we announce the player as they go up to bat. There is a reason it matters that someone knows our name.
I remember well the moment that Jesus said my name… I thought He had forsaken me. I thought He would never want me. I thought He was far from me… but the moment He said my name I could see that He had been there with me all along. I was just too caught up in my own meltdown to see Him.
Precious one, I don’t know where you are today… I don’t know if you can see Him or not… but trust me, He is in your midst… He knows your name.